Tag Archives: Nelson Figueroa

April 28, 2011

Games of the Day

Rookie phenom Michael Pineda tries to help Seattle to a sweep of Detroit as he faces Brad Penny. In his first 25 1/3 major league innings Pineda has yet to allow a home run. He is an extreme fly ball pitcher, with 50% of the balls in play against him classified as flies. If that keeps up, more than a few balls should leave the park against him. Wildness plagued Penny this season, with 14 walks in 28 1/3 innings, but he seemed to get that under control as he issued just two walks in seven shutout innings the last time he took the mound.

The Orioles go for a sweep of the Red Sox, as Boston continues to play poorly on the road. Jon Lester battles Brad Bergesen. Despite a poor first start in Texas, Lester sports a 2.45 road ERA as he has not allowed a run in his last two games away from Fenway. Opponents are padding their power stats against Bergesen, as 10 of the 19 hits against him went for extra bases.

Finally, Kyle McClellan takes on Nelson Figueroa as the Cardinals and Astros finish their series. McCellan took Adam Wainwright‘s spot rather handily. While he doesn’t strike out batters like Adam, his 2.16 ERA is very ace like. He’s had very good luck with left-handed batters so far, holding them to a .209 batting average. Figueroa issued 10 walks while striking out 12 in 20 innings. When walks and strike outs are even, often one is too high or the other is two low. Nelson hits the sweet spot, as his walks are too high and his strikeouts are too low. That leads to more hits and a high OBP, as the opposition hits .341 against Figueroa with a .406 OBP.

Enjoy!

August 22, 2010

Fig in a Pinch

Mets Mess

5 Replies

Nelson Figueroa unloads on the Mets:

Figueroa said the difference in clubhouse could not be more pronounced. He claimed the Mets always were asking about opponents, wondering what they said and thought. It’s not that way with the Phils.

“Being in New York, you’re always going to [have] drama whether it’s on the field or off the field, in the front office or the clubhouse there’s always going to be drama,” said Figueroa, 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA in seven games with the Phils as a long reliever.

“[New York] doesn’t even come up in conversation here,” Figueroa added. “We don’t worry about New York or the other teams. That’s always been going on over there. ‘What did Jimmy Rollins say?’ a couple years ago when he said they were the team to beat in the East. They proved it. A year later, guys were making plans for the playoffs with two weeks left to play. Up five games, ‘We’re fine.’ Then to see it slowly slip away and to say goodbye to Shea Stadium the way we did, that was hard.”

It’s another example of the Harvard/Yale relationship, although I’m surprised to see a New York team on the Yale end of things.

Hat tip, MetsBlog.com.

February 16, 2010

Players A to Z, Nelson Figueroa

2 Replies

Nelson Figueroa pitches as a starter and a reliever for the New York Mets. If you look at Nelson’s three true outcomes, nothing is great. His strikeouts, at 5.9 per nine innings, are a bit low. His walks, at 3.7 per nine, are a bit high. His home runs, at 28.1 per 200 innings aren’t that low. Not surprisingly, his ERA of 4.54 isn’t high enough to keep him out of the game, but it’s not low enough to put him high on a depth chart.

He does pitch much better as a reliever, so the Mets should think twice about using him in a starting role. Using him in relief also gives the Mets a chance to limit Nelson’s exposure to left-handed batters, who hit him hard. Used the right way, a team can get some production from Figueroa.